Books

“OMG! I am in Paris and I started to read book 1 last night before bed. Went to sleep but woke up at 3am to read more. I’m hooked. Fabulous writing.”

Thrillers With Humour And Heart

Welcome!

I got tired of reading stories about middle-aged female characters who sweetly reminisce about their younger years while the twenty-somethings have all the fun. I’m not going to stop having adventures just because I’m over… okay, well over forty. Okay, fine. Over fifty, but that’s all I’ll cop to.

I’m old(er), not dead.

That’s why I created a kickass, foul-mouthed middle-aged bookkeeper who gets sucked into a spy’s life. If you like fast-paced action with some laughs along the way, my books are for you. I hope you enjoy them!

Despite her penchant for weapons and ripe language, Aydan Kelly’s resumé reads ‘bookkeeper’, not ‘badass’. She’s leaving the city to fulfill her dream of rural tranquillity when she gets carjacked by a man who shouldn’t exist.

When RCMP officer John Kane kills her would-be abductor, Aydan thinks her troubles are over. But Kane’s investigation implicates her in an international espionage plot, and criminal charges become the least of her worries when she’s targeted by the very spies Kane suspects her of aiding.

Pity her enemies. Because nobody’s tougher than a middle-aged woman who wants her dream back.

When a clandestine government agency recruits middle-aged bookkeeper Aydan Kelly, she overcomes her fear and agrees to go undercover at a lavish gala affair. But the glamour of the mission fades fast when she finds herself astride a motorcycle, assigned to an all-male surveillance team.

Aydan discovers spies are using classified technology to torture information from their captives. Worse, they know she’s breached their security. Now she has to prevent them from revealing her true identity, while avoiding capture by the vicious criminals who won’t hesitate to torture her, too.

Middle-aged bookkeeper Aydan Kelly never wanted to moonlight as a spy, but she doesn’t have a choice. Working with computer networks in a secured building sounds safe, but it turns out the job’s a killer – literally.

When Aydan’s trusted co-worker is shot while committing an apparently treasonous act, Aydan embarks on a secret mission to clear his name. But her investigation casts suspicion on the director of operations himself. If he’s a double agent, Aydan’s in more danger than she ever imagined… and national security hangs in the balance.

Aydan Kelly has reluctantly accepted her unwanted role as a part-time spy. It’s painful and dangerous, but she’s willing to make the sacrifice for the good of her country. Too bad her country doesn’t have the same honourable intentions.

When Aydan discovers the government murdered her husband, the betrayal drives her on a quest to uncover the truth. Living as a fugitive, alienated from the people she once trusted, she has to evade both government agents and the violent criminals who will sell her to the highest bidder.

In her work with a clandestine government agency, Aydan Kelly stumbles across a shadowy consortium of scientists whose members are selling classified information for personal profit.

Aydan wants to report them, but there’s a small complication: her supposedly dead husband… isn’t. He wants to rendezvous with her, but he could be working with the consortium. If she rats on the scientists, her husband will die. But if she doesn’t, the consortium will kill her…

Aydan Kelly’s part-time job with a clandestine government organization just got a lot more complicated. Forced to lie to save her lover’s career, she tells the director she’s an experienced secret agent. He believes her… and assigns her to a dangerous mission.

When Aydan realizes innocent lives are at stake, she tries to confess her deception, but it’s already too late. Cut off from the Department and used as a pawn in the vengeful schemes of an obsessed spy, she must stop him before he destroys the people she loves.

Middle-aged bookkeeper Aydan Kelly knew pretending to be an experienced secret agent was a bad idea, but it was the only way to protect her lover. Now her lies have caught up to her in the worst possible way: everyone believes them.

Armed with nothing but a sleazy porn-star cover identity, Aydan must infiltrate a criminal organization to retrieve a secret weapon prototype. With her lover’s life at stake as well as her own, she can’t afford to fail. But she has no idea how to succeed…

Railroaded into acting as a secret agent, Aydan Kelly only wants to return to her peaceful former existence. But when trusted co-workers go missing along with a deadly weapon prototype, she’s forced to take over the investigation to protect them from an agent with a personal vendetta.

And when a violent criminal organization abducts her lover, Aydan discovers exactly how far she’s willing to push the limits of her new role. The bad guys are about to learn an important lesson: Don’t piss off a middle-aged bookkeeper.

After four uneventful months spent guarding her boss’s eccentric hippy parents on an isolated raincoast commune, bookkeeper-turned-secret-agent Aydan Kelly is beginning to hope mildewed undies will be the only hazard she’ll face.

But some of the blissed-out flower children are not what they seem. Aydan discovers a plot to kill her lovable charges, and in her fight to protect them she unearths the commune’s deepest secret. Suddenly she’s facing dozens of enemies who threaten the lives of all the innocent commune members as well as her own.

Bookkeeper-turned-secret-agent Aydan Kelly has barely begun to relax after her last mission when a shotgun-wielding man kicks in the front door of her country home. She doesn’t recognize the would-be assassin, so who hired him and why?

As evidence mounts against her abrasive co-worker, Aydan begins a deadly game of cat and mouse with herself as bait. If her suspicions are correct, the Department’s security has been breached and no one is safe.

With the lives of her dearest friends at risk as well as her own, Aydan must stop her unknown enemy before the next assassin succeeds.

Secret agent Aydan Kelly is hoping to resume her peaceful life as a bookkeeper, until her director issues an ultimatum: Go undercover as an arms dealer or go to jail for life. But when Aydan realizes her co-worker’s son has been taken by a serial killer, she defies orders in an attempt to save the child.

Neglecting her undercover assignment may cost more than just her freedom. When the gunrunner she’s been baiting threatens her loved ones, Aydan must choose between protecting them herself or entrusting their safety to geriatric amateur vigilantes while she closes in on the killer.

Reluctant secret agent Aydan Kelly is posing as an arms dealer when her gangland buyer is implicated in a deadly plot to attack Remembrance Day services.

Partnered with an agent she can’t trust, Aydan races against time to stop the terrorists; but her partner’s volatile temper might blow the whole op… if it doesn’t kill her first. And when she discovers her lover is embroiled in the case, Aydan must decide: Will she sacrifice him to save hundreds of innocent lives?

Escorting Canada’s top weapons developers to an international summit should be just another stressful day in the life of secret agent Aydan Kelly. But Aydan’s routine mission becomes a nightmare when she’s accused of an attack on the delegates and the theft of a classified weapon.

As evidence mounts against her, Aydan’s own investigation suggests she might have unconsciously committed the crime. Burned by her own Department and hunted by MI6, CIA, and FBI, Aydan must decide: When her own mind might betray her, who can she trust?

Secret agent Aydan Kelly’s supposedly-dead mother Nora has resurfaced after thirty years, and the chain of command suspects her of treason. With only two weeks before Nora leaves the country under diplomatic immunity, Aydan struggles to piece together her mother’s questionable past.

Two days into Aydan’s investigation Nora announces she’s leaving early, and Aydan’s director gives her an ultimatum: Solve the case before Nora escapes, or face imprisonment for dereliction of duty. Meanwhile, an unknown enemy is stalking Aydan’s friends and the threats are escalating.

When time runs out and prison walls loom, claustrophobic Aydan must make an unthinkable choice: Sacrifice her friends, or lose her freedom forever.

Off-duty secret agent Aydan Kelly knows she shouldn’t interfere when her lover finally locates his long-lost sister, but she’s afraid Arnie’s too upset to stay on the right side of the law.

Arnie’s sister has been outed in a social media firestorm, and threats against her escalate to a violent attack. Aydan and Arnie rush to her rescue, only to discover she’s being targeted by a powerful crime lord from her unsavory past. As danger mounts, Aydan realizes Arnie will do anything to save his sister… including murder.

Caught between love and legality, Aydan faces an unthinkable choice: Risk her career and freedom by turning a blind eye to Arnie’s deadly plan, or save the crime lord and condemn Arnie to prison and his sister to death.

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282 responses to “Books”

Loved all of them. Just finished #14. Wow, roller coaster rides have nothing on your plots and characters. I am 74 and get so bored with the very young female spies. Aydan is perfect. I started a new career when I was 46 and had a lot of angst like she does. Can really relate to her. Read all the series in 10 days. Yep, housework had to wait, lol. Thank you for a great series.

Hi Kathryn! Wow, you devoured the series — I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Book 15 has had a slow start during an insanely busy summer, but I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with it now. I’d LOVE to release it in time for Christmas; but unless the stars align exactly, it will likely be early next year. I’ll continue to post my progress on this page, so stay tuned!

I truly enjoy this series. Wish I could slow down in ready so they would last longer but I’m a have to know kind of girl,so I can’t put it down because there always so good. THANK YOU for sharing your talent with all of us.

It’s great to hear that you’re loving the series! There will definitely be a Book 15. After that, I’m not sure. I’ve never had a set-in-stone ‘vision’ for the series — I had originally thought it would only be three books. Then six. Then Book 8 was going to be the last one. Then… well, you get the picture. So I won’t make any promises, but I’ve still got lots of ideas! 🙂

Since the first chapter of the first book, I have been hooked. It has taken me 2 and a half weeks to get through all 14 and I can not wait for the next one to come out! I absolutely love the series and your writing and I am so glad I stumbled upon these books. Happy writing!

I am sooo hooked on this series. I am hopelessly in love with your characters and the ever changing plot lines. I can’t put it down once I start reading, and then I instantly click on the next book. This is more than 5 stars. It’s out of the park 10. Thank you for sharing your wonderful, steamy, sexy, and riveting stories. I love them all equally and can’t wait for the next installment. Thank you for continuing the series!! Feel free to use any or all of these comments!

Thank you so much, Karen! 😀 I love writing about Aydan and the gang, and it makes my day to hear that you love reading about them. I can hardly wait to start Book 15 — it’s been clamouring in my brain, and your encouragement makes me even more eager to start!

It means a lot to me that you took the time to drop by and comment — thanks again!

Once again many hours of lost sleep caused by the “Just one more chapter” syndrome. Like the previous 13 books in the series, this one combines suspense, humour and total unpredictability into a very readable work of genius. I can’t wait for book 15.

OhMGee.. 🙂 Barnes and Noble (for E-Books) has dedicated a special window just for me..I was buying a book a day (fast reader) of your Spy series. I was begining to think your were going to keep us on tenderhooks forever but got some relief after #13..Identities revealed!! Thank you. I am 76 and my patience has pretty much dried up. #9, for some reason, is my favorite so far. Appeared Aydan got more rest. Yes, I am waiting for #14 so get on it girl…Life is uncertain.

I’m pumped that #9 is your favourite – to tell the truth, I having a sneaking fondness for it, too (but don’t tell my other books). Maybe it’s because I had so much fun writing Moonbeam and Karma and Skidmark for the first time in #9. Getting to know Stemp’s off-the-wall parents made him seem so much more human.

Thank you for taking the time to come by and comment – I appreciate your encouragement! 🙂

Just discovered this series last week, so I’m just on book 8. Obviously I’m really enjoying it but I really, really, really, really want her to end up with Kane! And more Stemp. He’s an interesting character.

Hi Brenda! It’s great to hear that you’re enjoying the series so far – thanks for commenting! Stay tuned, because Aydan and Kane’s story is far from over and even I’m not quite sure how it will end up. And if you like Stemp, you’re in luck: There’s a lot more character development for him in Books 9 through 13. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂

I had finished #13 and decided to start over with #1 and am glad I did. Have found enough “forgotten” details in the books that it is almost like reading a new series.

Your description of “Stemp” has me picturing John Hillerman who played Higgins on Mangum PI years ago. All the character descriptions create images that one can see in their mind. Try and keep Aydan and her crew out of trouble, but I guess that would take some of the fun out of our reading and your writing. Love the fact that most of the characters seem to be at least 45 and up and still going strong. Their various “adventures” seem more possible than imagining a 25 0 30 having them.

Hi Drae! I’m pumped that you found the series held up to re-reading! As the series progresses I have to be careful to recall all those little details to make sure I don’t slip up with continuity – always a challenge.

It’s cool that you see the characters in your mind’s eye. Higgins would have made a good Stemp! 🙂 I enjoy writing middle-aged characters for the exact reason you mention: They’re so much more complex and interesting, and much more inclined to perceive shades of gray where a younger person would see only black and white.

Really love this woman. The author and “spy” woman. I would give it 5 stars but for some reason amazon wont let post a review. Some garbage about having a connection to product or author. I am just an 83 year old who knows what she likes to read. So you just keep fussin and cussin and I will keep reading.

Thank you so much for trying to post a review, Barbara! I don’t know what notion Amazon takes to block people for no apparent reason. I know they’re trying to prevent scammers from leaving fake reviews; but they often go on witch hunts and block innocent people, too. I’m sorry that happened to you, but I really appreciate that you tried.

And I’m thrilled that you loved the book (and Aydan, and me as an author). 😀 Thanks again!

I love Diane’s writing! So full of humor and action with unexpected turns around every corner. And her appreciation for slightly older heroines is very refreshing. Please keep writing as fast as you can . . .l

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I get a kick out of my readers' fierce loyalties! Some say Kane's too perfect; others want me to kill off Hellhound; still others think Aydan should settle down with Tom. Even I don't know when or how it'll all end up, but here's your chance to vote just for fun!